I know that dex builds and fighters can work.. but how optimal would a drow finesse paladin actually be?
It will be a vengeance paladin with point buy stats but I've always gone with variant human cause feats..
I know that if i wanted completely optimal I probably wouldn't go with drow but this character is more about
the roleplay than the big numbers this time around.. still though I'd like to be able to dish out some pain
at the drop of a hat or be able to take a few hits. So if anyone could give a lil advice on the most optimal way to make this nonoptimal paladin I'd really appreciate it 
Did you check out the paladin guide at http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4135276 ? Seems like has your answers. A quick browse from my side makes me think it'll work quite well.
The big thing is dealing with "direct sunlight" and exactly how the DM interprets that.
A sun shining on an open area in a cloudless sky is pretty clear-cut, but other instances are pretty open to interpretation. (e.g. cloudy weather, being under a forest canopy, being in the shadow of a tall building, and so forth.)
Drow really only work if your playing a mostly underground campaign or near complete night time adventures. The direct sunlight penalties are really harsh, but make total sense
It's not really ambiguous and you can google what is the difference between direct and indirect sunlight to find some examples to make a case for yourself if your DM tries to stifle you with overbearing rules. It would not apply on an overcast day, in a dense wooded area, on many city streets depending on time of day/building height, it wouldn't apply indoors.
The vengeance paladin can once per day use it's channel divinity to gain advantage on all attacks against a target for 1 minute. So if you did get caught in direct sunlight you could negate the disadvantage once. Not sure what other ways a paladin can gain advantage in order to negate the disadvantage.
With dex being your attack stat, and considering that the paladin does not work out perfectly with ranged weapons (since you cannot smite with them), you are left with 2 choices:
A. The conservative sword (rapier) and board style, which does not work ideally with the oath of vengeance.
B. Two weapon fighting (2 shortswords/scimitars), that does not work really well for a straight up paly, considering the extra attacks and the action economy (use of your bonus action - paladins have a lot of ways to use their bonus action, rather than using it for an off-hand attack).
But..... You could use a drow, with high dex, that uses 2 finesse weapons, to build a multiclass combo involving paladin. A very lethal combo...
Check out GladiusLegis' guide of the true assassin: http://community.wizards.com/forum/player-help/threads/4149876
Specificaly check out the multiclass section of the guide, where the paladin route is detailed. It helped me a lot when I was trying to create a dex based TWF paly.
That does of course raise the question of what happens when a Drow Devotion Paladin uses his radiance ability....
Elfcrusher wrote:
What about convincing your DM to let you aquire an item that let's you deal with direct sunlight? Goggles of sunlight protection (Rayban) anyone?
Cannot believe that in a world of magic, dragons, teleportation and the such, there was no one that ever managed to create sun glasses...
Edit: Heck, create your own background (call it the daywalker pun-pun) and put it in the background equipment.
GladiusLegis wrote: